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The two children of Vermont woman Lavanya Chappa, who was stabbed to death last week, have been reunited with their aunt and uncle after the Department of Home Affairs reversed a decision not to allow the couple to travel to Australia.
Chappa’s 13-year-old daughter and seven-year-old-son were in the family home when Chappa was fatally stabbed last week, allegedly by their father, Srinivas Achanta, 39. Achanta has been charged with murder. She was one of two women and two girls killed in Australia last week.
The children, who moved to Melbourne with their parents from Singapore in 2025, had no other relatives in Melbourne, but on July 8, the day after Chappa’s death, her mother’s sister and brother-in-law were denied visas to travel from their home in southern India to be with them.
The pair were helped to have the decision overturned, and a new visa application was successful after the intervention of national Commissioner for Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Michaela Cronin on Friday. The couple arrived in Melbourne on Sunday.
They identified Chappa’s body on Monday, with family friend and Sydney solicitor Sri Lakshmi Thukral, and plan to fly the children back to India next week, with their mother’s body on the same flight. The children’s grandparents will help care for them.
Thukral drove to Melbourne on Sunday night with an Indian-born family support services worker, Manu Devana Reddy, who had been supporting Chappa’s sister and parents by phone. They were accompanied by one of Chappa’s cousins, Govind Gudivada, who is also supporting the children and their aunt and uncle.
The children were allowed to accompany their relatives to their rented accommodation in Melbourne on Wednesday and remain in their care, supported by Thukral, Reddy and Gudivada.
Chappa is one of four Australian women and girls killed in four days, prompting Cronin to call for funding increases to better reflect the scale of Australia’s crisis of violence against women.
Thirteen-year-old Layla Jeffery was found dead in bushland near her home town of regional Donald, in north-western Victoria on Thursday; young mother Jana Armstrong, 30, was found dead in bushland near her home in Toowoomba; and a 17-year-old girl living in a remote community in the Northern Territory was found dead on July 6.
A 16-year-old boy was arrested and charged on Saturday following the discovery of Jeffery’s body after a days-long search for the teenager.
A 48-year-old man who police allege is a former partner of Jana Armstrong, taxi driver Dharminder Singh, appeared in court on Monday charged with her domestic violence-related murder.
Police in the NT allege that Jordan Garrawurra, 34, was in a domestic relationship with the 17-year-old girl from the community of Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island, and he was charged with her murder on July 9.
Govind Gudivada, an IT worker at a national health insurance company who has been running a funding campaign to pay for the costs of Chappa’s children’s education, said on Thursday community support had been strong. The campaign has raised nearly $60,000 since the weekend.
Gudivada said the children were doing well since being reunited with their mother’s sister. “We are very happy. We can see this blessing [being back with family] in their faces,” he said.
Reddy said: “These two people [Chappa’s sister and her husband] are really capable. This is a great outcome to the family, and on behalf of the family, I would like to thank everyone who has helped.”
Thukral, who comes from the same village as Chappa’s family but moved to Australia in 1996, said “we are all so, so happy that we will be able to take Lavanya and the children home”.
“Lavanya’s parents need to see her at least one more time, and then we do rituals and the funeral.”
Chappa worked as a software analyst and loved reading and travel, Thukral said, and was a conscientious and devoted mother.
Her cousin Gudivada said she was a well-respected and liked colleague, and “she will be remembered for her warmth, compassion, and the positive impact she had on everyone fortunate enough to know her”.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
Wendy Tuohy is a senior writer focusing on social issues and those impacting women and girls.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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